Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale has issued a memo reminding ASG employees about the laws governing government employees involved in political campaigning.
The AG cites in his June 7 memo three provisions in the lawbooks and discusses each one.
These are political campaign activities, use of annual leave and resignation to run for public office.
According to the AG, generally government employees are permitted to run for political office without resigning during the election campaign, so long as any political campaign efforts are done after hours and do not interfere with their work.
Government employees are prohibited from using their employment status to influence elections, solicit campaign contributions or use government property in furtherance of any campaign activity.
Government employees may use annual leave or take leave without pay for up to 30 days before the election and up to 10 days after the election date to engage in political campaign activities.
The AG explains that overall, the sections of the Code Annotated, provide broad latitude for government employees to run for political office without stepping down from their government jobs.
The only time employees must resign before running for public office is when they run for governor or lt, governor, in which case they must resign as soon as they begin active campaigning or 60 days before the elections, whichever happens first.
